On Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:11:14 -0700, Cathy wrote:

>I have a search form that starts with a dropdown menu and includes a  
>few other dropdowns and checkboxes, but no text box. I know the rule  
>about putting default focus in a text box, but what about a form with  
>other functionality? Should there be focus on the first dropdown of my  
>form by default?

 I wouldn't default the focus to a dropdown. One of the first things
people often do is to scroll the page to see more, and using the mouse
wheel scrolls the entries in the box rather than the page, which
confuses. 

If you want to allow for the use of the tab key, you can default the
focus to a hidden field just prior to the first input box. Then,
there's no confusion with the mouse wheel, but one click of the tab
key will bring the first field into focus.

*    Nick Gassman - Usability and Standards Manager - http://ba.com *

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